Eating Turf
by jaggedjacket
Summary: Kankuro's new training instructor has him eating turf. Things couldn't get anyworse until Neji joins the picture-just when things between him and his little tiajutsu teacher were starting to heat up. Just his luck. Me no own. InoXGaara
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One : Let everything wither and die

"It's about time you started using that body weight to your advantage," Tenten called to the puppeteer who was already frustrated and getting tired. All those years of carrying his absurdly heavy puppets had left him with hard, heavy muscles, not lean ones accustomed to longer workouts like the petite konoichi in front of him. She made him look slow and clumsy and that made him all the more cantankerous.

Tenten's shadow clone continued her update on the ninja's progress as the real Tenten and Kankuro continued to spar.

"He's coming along," the clone picked at her cuticles with a kunai, "his endurance has already improved."

Gaara nodded at the information. He secretly congratulated himself for choosing his brother's taijutsu training instructor so well. Tenten had come with a résumé and recommendations as long as his leg, not to mention she was available and up for the challenge of training his more ornery and churlish sibling. After a mission revealed that he was nearly useless in hand to hand combat and a long hospital visit, Gaara set up his training arrangement during his recovery.

Kankuro was growling now, swearing and still pissed off that a girl half his weight and size was kicking his ass soundly. He smeared his puppeteer paint as he wiped the sweat from his brow. If she wasn't giving him tips and pointers it wouldn't appear that the konoichi was even paying attention in their little sparring sessions. In fact, most of the time when she wasn't egging him on, she looked bored, which again only served to bruise his brother's ego.

Gaara smirked. She was perfect.

Tenten's shadow clone looked up to the Kazekage with a raised eyebrow, "you coming out with me and Temari tonight or are you still swamped with paperwork?"

Gaara rolled his shoulder and held his eyes closed. He really could use a break. "We'll make Kankuro come too; I think he is starting to resent me for his training."

Tenten's clone scoffed. After a full week of battling the brute, he had taken to cursing her repeatedly not just behind her back, but relentlessly reminding her how much he hated this training and her loudly to her face. Tenten took in all in stride: she smiled at every name he called her, as if they were terms of endearment. She took it as encouragement, which in turn just enraged him all the more.

"Not bad, Cowboy,"

_Shit!_ The puppeteer thought to himself.

She had made it a habit of calling him that right before she flipped him unceremoniously on his face, and pinned his arms against his body. Kankuro was eating turf before he could blink. Damn, she was fast.

She must have been able to sense his frustration level topping off. She leaned down and started to talk quietly in his ear, still straddling him.

"Now, now, Mr. Cranky Pants," she explained to which he responded with a grunt and solid effort to buck her off. She tightened her grip and shoved his face further into the ground. She leaned into the ninja grinding his teeth at her, "we both know that on the battlefield, me with my scrolls and you with your dollies, you would beat me hands down." The puppeteer reeled at her words and momentarily quit squirming.

_Dollies! _

Wait, did she just call him Mr. Cranky Pants!

"But for right now," her breath was hot in his ear, "you'll have to forgive me if I take just a little bit of pleasure in playing the dominant role." She jerked him just a little on her release of him. When he rolled over and stared at her stupidly, she was smirking over him with a hand outstretched to help him up as a peace offering. He wasn't used to this. Normally _he_ was the cocky smartass.

He really shouldn't blame her. She was, after all, just doing her job. Somehow he doubted what she said was true. She could very well best him in a fight. He looked over to his brother, who was still talking to one of Tenten's shadow clones.

"What the hell?" Kankuro screamed incredulously. No way she had enough endurance to fight him and keep up a shadow clone.

"Gotta go," Tenten's shadow clone disappeared with a puff of smoke and a wink to the Kazekage.

The real Tenten pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. His progress was slow at best and her patience with him was running thin.

Kame, he was like a three year old some times.

Tenten called over to Gaara as she started to leave the fallen ninja, still sprawled on his back, concluding their sparring match for the day.

"Seven at The Dune's End, don't be late and be sure your smelly brother takes a shower," she waved as she exited the grounds.

Behind her, Gaara smirked.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

His arms were folded across his chest, now showered and cleaned, sporting a new black traditional bunraku puppeteer's outfit complete with face paint. He shifted his scathing look between the twin bunned konoichi, who was laughing in unison with Temari, and his brother who still wore that damned smirk. The Dune's End was a bar/restaurant where shinobi loved to frequent. They were currently under a string of chili pepper lights on the patio terrace, enjoying their cold alcoholic beverages after their meal.

Gaara leaned back into his chair and continued to smile at the two konoichi in front of him. His sister had never taken to any other girl like Tenten, and it wasn't a wonder why. She was smart, competent and sassy to Kankuro. The two were almost inseparable.

"I hate her," the stewing ninja confessed under his breath so that only his brother could hear.

"I know." Gaara stated simply, taking a pull off his dark beer.

"Almost as much as I hate you," he turned to glare at his younger brother.

"I know," he repeated as the girl's musical laughter started to die down. "Mr. Cranky Pants." Kankuro's eyes bulged as his face whipped back to Gaara whose smirk was at full force.

He had heard that?

"Save the pillow talk for our training tomorrow." Tenten winked with a raised glass to Kankuro as if to toast him.

Kankuro just sat and muttered curses under his breath, shaking his head at his horrible luck.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: I apparently got hit in the head, but I don't remember…

"Strong work," Tenten complimented the ninja above her, who was still holding her arms above her head, pinning her neatly to the floor. Kankuro was quite suddenly aware that he was straddling her now, her face up, and, even if she had let him do so, there was no way out of the position that she was now in until he got his massive body and all of its weight off of her.

"Now let me up, so I can show you how to counter," she explained in a friendly, detached sort of way. She showed no signs that their current predicament was at all suggestive. He hesitated, reveling in the fact that she was at his mercy now, she unable to move unless he willed it so.

He sneered at the thought of that. He let her up slowly, reluctantly. He wondered if there was more to it than a faux victory he was relishing.

The last two weeks she had switched gears in her training with him, showing him moves and then him testing them out on her. He had managed to stop calling her names and cursing her, except when he realized how sore a muscle was when he moved a certain way. She had in turn focused on his learning strategies: somehow he didn't hate her so much anymore. It was probably the way they constantly teased each other (him no longer actually wishing she were dead, only teasing her that he wish she were), or had hung out in their spare time at the apartment that Temari and Tenten shared. Perhaps, it was her candid attitude and sassiness that he couldn't rightly stay mad at because he appreciated it. Heaven forbid his instructor was some blushing swooning idiot. Kame save him if that were the case. Tenten was down to earth; the fact that she stayed his instructor after how furious he was with her (and himself) for the first week was a testament to his brother's choice for her to do the job. He would have to thank him later.

"Kankuro, I said grab my hips," Tenten had apparently repeated.

"What?" He replied stupidly. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his hands and placed them firmly around her small torso.

"Get a good grip, I am a wiggle worm," she backed slightly into him so he could do just that. She shook her hips from side to side to emphasis the need for a firm grip but in a playful manner. Kankuro marveled at how his hands nearly engulfed the entire space of her waist. _He liked this_ he kept repeating to himself unconsciously.

"Now all you have to do is use the leverage of your body, grab the arm and fold from the qua and…"

Tenten flipped him nimbly onto his back as she flung him over the front of her body.

Kankuro blinked up at her as she smiled above him. "Now you try."

Kankuro had to admit he liked this way of teaching more. He wasn't just being toyed with; she was actually showing him some quality moves that were advantageous for his body type. He flipped her carefully to the ground then followed it with an impromptu straddle, anchoring her arms above her head again.

"That wasn't part of the move I just showed you," she said raising an eyebrow at him in a scolding manner.

He leaned in greedily, lower his voice a octave as he spoke with a smug expression, "Just improvising."

"I trust my teammate can get up now?" Neji suddenly called from the corner. His eyes narrowed on the bully-type figure still hovering over Tenten with an all too familiar look in his eyes.

"Former teammate," Kankuro corrected. He focused on the silver-eyed jounin as they both exchanged scathing looks. He never did like that long-haired ex-teammate of hers. Such a pretty-boy. He wondered vaguely if they were dating. Something not unheard of in a team cell. He knew that look the smaller-framed boy was giving him now. Kankuro was muscling in on his turf and Neji was here to re-stake his claim.

"You can have your girlfriend back," he continued, "gotta cut this one short anyway, I have a meeting with Gaara." He got off of her hastily and pushed past Neji nearly bumping into him as he did.

"Looks like we all have the same meeting," Neji's calm and infiltrating voice breeched his back.

Great, he was joining the meeting- that meant he might be there to supposedly improve his taijutsu skills, or worse, stay for a while in his hometown. He tried to suppress a cringe.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Kankuro couldn't suppress his smile. His face was starting to hurt but he didn't care. After the news that the asshole protégé had somehow weaseled his way into his training sessions with him, all he wanted to do was kill something.

This was _so_ much better.

Tenten dodged a blow and round housed her former comrade in one swift movement. The effect was him staggering backward, and a moment later, re-evaluating the range of motion on his jaw.

She was commander in this mission and Neji couldn't say shit. He loved it. Neji had to do what she said, and right now, he was playing practice dummy as she assaulted him. She seemed to want to beat him up almost as much as he did. Things just couldn't get any better.

He quickly wiped the triumphant look on his face and replaced it with a scowl.

"I'm not sure I can do that," he said giving her his best look of uncertainty.

"Sure you can," Tenten encouraged him with a genuine smile, "go ahead and try the same move but," she came closer to him and whispered in his ear to block the move to his left not right, and to be sure to follow through on his kick because Neji was likely to try and dodge if he knew it was coming.

He really did try to hide his face-splitting grin as the female ninja leaned in close to him. Her whispers licked his ears in feather touches and he thoroughly enjoyed the sudden secrecy they shared while Neji sat out.

The look on that jerk's face was priceless.

Kankuro was most acutely aware that while explaining how to do the move she had gently placed her hand on his shoulder as he hunched over to hear. The subtle contact wasn't lost on Neji either and he continued to glare holes into the puppeteer. Kankuro's smile widened. He nodded for a final time at her directions, then plastered on his serious face.

"Ok, I'll give it a shot," Kankuro quickly moved after she broke contact and he lurched towards the unsuspecting leaf-nin. He dodged the block from the left on the assumption that Tenten wouldn't steer him wrong and turned his velocity to his qua, kicking his leg out in a circular motion aiming for the younger man's girly face. The result was the same as Tenten's: Kankuro blocked Neji's attack and countered in one fluid motion. Neji's jaw audibly creaked.

"Nice job," Tenten beamed at her student and they exchanged high-fives.

"A word, Tenten," Neji rubbed his hand over the side of his face with irritation.

Kankuro noticed that she suddenly stiffened, but only for a split second before she moved over to the corner to converse with him on a side note. Kankuro began to preoccupy himself with stretching all the while trying in vain to read their lips out of the corner of his eye.

They were both facing him, Tenten with her arms over her chest trying not to look pissed; Neji, visibly pissed, but keeping his voice low enough that he couldn't be heard.

Whatever the request that Neji had, it fell on deaf ears as Tenten used the equivalent of a look that mimicked disgust and rolling of her eyes all at once. She was neither impressed with him, nor pleased.

_Good_, Kankuro thought. Time to try to get a rouse out of the two, he didn't get an answer before whether or not she was his girlfriend. They were all too good at brushing off his provoking comment.

"Hey you two lovebirds," he called out to get their attention. "We gunna do this or what? I have 20 more minutes before I have to run home and wash up for dinner."

Neji smirked at this comment. The two ninja prepared for some serious close-combat and they leaned in to intimidate each other out of the earshot of Tenten who was looking on from the sidelines. They glared at each other as they prepared to start sparing on her command.

"Didn't know trash like you actually showered," Neji mumbled under his breath.

"Jealous you aren't invited? Don't be: my sister can't cook," Kankuro blew off the comment to let his sink in. Tenten shared an apartment with Tamari when she stayed in town and vice versa in Konoha. It was a well known fact in both hidden villages. In Suna, the two rented a condo close to the Hokage's tower three blocks down from where Gaara and he shared one. Kankuro's face split into an evil grin as the information registered on the pale-eyed Hyuga. With out warning, the Byakugan user attacked, and before Kankuro could even realize what had happened there was screaming from Tenten and the world whooshed dark for a moment.

"YOU ASSHOLE," Tenten shoved the pompous jounin aside and leaned over Kankuro. Kankuro blinked in confusion as Tenten helped him to a seated position. Tenten checked his pupils and started asking a lot of questions that mostly confused him.

"What day of the week is it?" She asked as she cradled his head in her hands turning it side to side to check for damage.

"Wednesday," came his feeble reply. What was going on?

"Where are you at?" the girl questioning him looked pretty concerned as she kept inspecting his eyes and head. There was a guy behind her rolling his eyes.

"Training field eight," he replied. She frowned.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Kankuro."

"Kankuro, what are you doing tonight?" she was warm and she smiled down on him.

"Whatever you want to, haven't had a chick ask me out in a while," his head rushed as he spoke his words, his tongue growing thick in his mouth.

"Whoa, Cowboy," Tenten steadied him at the shoulders to keep him from pitching over.

He shook his head suddenly as if trying to draw the fuzziness out of it.

She linked up underneath his arms and he stood up with her supporting him.

"We going now," Kankuro responded dumbfounded, "cuz normally I try not to appear this easy." His tone was playful even though he obviously more than a little confused.

"Just follow me," Tenten softly lured him to walk with her, "we are going to go take a little trip to the hospital."

"Hospital's are very romantic. Why are we going there?" he queried down at the brunette with long lashes and big brown eyes at his side. His head bobbed slightly as he slurred his question.

"Its Friday, we are at training field number 32, and you have a concussion."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

There was a lot of cursing coming from down the hall followed by the clanging of a bed pan crashing into a wall. Gaara guessed that was where he would find his brother. He would have to kill him for getting himself injured during a simple sparing match. Gaara had only been down the hall, getting a routine psychical from Ino when an orderly announced that his brother had been admitted. Not that he particularly enjoyed getting stabbed with needles, but Ino had been more forgiving than anyone else so far. She was busy trying to fix one of his shoulders strained from the constant tension his gourd caused him when they had been interrupted.

In truth he was starting to like the blonde konoichi, and wasn't quite sure was that meant. He was hoping to probe her for more answers before an orderly rudely interrupted the blonde leaning over so far that her pony tail tickled the front of his chest. She had been touching him unapologetically, even so far as to sit behind him on the gurney as to get a better angle to work out the hypertonic muscles. She had blushed so prettily not only when she had asked him to remove his shirt, but turned a darker shade after taking a look at him without it on.

Someone was going to have to pay.

His sand rattled anxiously in his gourd. He reached his brothers room and the orderly quickly left without a word.

"Somebody get this damn jutsu off of me!" Kankuro shouted as he tried to break his bindings from the bed. The rails rattled and banged against the wall as the massive shinobi lurched against his invisible restraints. Scratches turned to divots in the walls as the shinobi continued his violent attempt at an escape.

"Gaara!" Kankuro only paused a moment before jerking the bed forward once more. "Get me outta here! I need to kill that damned bastard for landing me in this mess!"

"I am told you have a concussion," Gaara said pointedly. "Who did this to you?"

"That asshole protégé from the leaf you let train with me and Ten-hey where are you going!" Kankuro stopped his thumping around to shout at his brother who was quickly making his exit down the hall.

Tenten slipped in the room. "Dispel!" she said with a simple hand seal and helped the shinobi off the bed quickly leading him down the hall. "Have I ever mentioned how much I like you?" Kankuro gave her a look like she was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Come on Cowboy, lets get you cleaned up for dinner, Temari is going to kill us both if we are late."

"I'ma kill that boyfriend, Gina, of yours," Kankuro stated with a lethal tone and a low growl.

"Neji," Tenten corrected blandly.

"Him too," Kankuro mumbled.

She stopped him as they reached the steps outside the hospital. She straightened him up and inspected him like she did before, first his eyes and then his head.

"Your fine," she released his head, "they told me not to take you until your brother had a chance to see you." Tenten apologized with a sincere 'I'm-sorry-that-was-the-soonest-I-could-spring-you-from-jail' smile.

They picked up their pace and walked along in silence: Kankuro with a casual stride and Tenten eyeballing the taller shinobi with a dubious look.

"Come on, Cowboy," Tenten grabbed his arm as Kankuro had missed the turn off towards their apartments. She gently led him in the right direction.

"I knew that," Kankuro shrugged and blew it off as if it weren't a big deal. He kept his leisurely pace and smiled politely and happily down at the konoichi beside him. Tenten sighed to herself. She was going to have to make sure the big lug didn't pass out in the shower and drown himself.

"I may have hit my head, but I am pretty sure I would have remembered if you were staying with me," Kankuro pushed the door open with a toothy grin. Tenten looked at him deadpan with her arms akimbo.

"Inside," she shoved him in and he stumbled backwards into dimly lit apartment.

"Oh, I like it rough, how did you know?" he smirked evilly at her and took the playful shove she offered again as he made his way to the bathroom.

"I will tell Temari that you didn't come because you hate her cooking if you mess with me right now," Tenten spoke loudly into the door.  
>"Try again, that is common knowledge."<p>

"Just answer me with at least a grunt when I question you, so that I know you haven't passed out in the shower," Tenten explained. Simple.

"You got that? And if you are not drowning in a pool of your own blood when I open the door, you will be!"

Kankuro opened the door half-way. He had slipped out of his black sweaty bunraku outfit and was only sporting a fuzzy white towel around his waist and some smeared face paint. He leaned into to her space, a cocky grin playing on his face. "You could shower with me to conserve water. It would save time, too."

"No, but the next time I'm doing laundry, I'll give you a call," Tenten replied with the same playful look. She pointedly looked down at his stomach as if to explain. Wash board abs: perfectly sculpted from lifting heavy ass puppets all his life. She pushed him back inside and closed the door.

Kankuro was momentarily stunned with her open flirtatious manner, but he liked it. He was almost sad he couldn't get her to blush. He hopped in the shower stall and proceeded to clean himself off under the hot spray. "So how long have you and Neji been going out?" He found himself shouting over the rush of the water. He wanted a straight answer. All his little jibes had gotten not an ounce of what he wanted to know-which was if the two jounin were actually dating. He stood still while he waited for her response.

"That's funny I didn't think there was a lot of bad intel here in Suna,"

Kankuro smiled. That is what he wanted to hear.

"Sides, I don't swing that way."

"What!" Kankuro hoped that he hadn't heard her right. Dear Kame please no.

"I at least stick to my own species."

Kankuro chuckled. Now that was more like it.

A/N: More Neji bashing….are we really surprised?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: The apron that screamed evil with a capital Satan

"Don't even try it," Temari slapped Tenten's hand away from the dials on the stove and busied herself in quick movements around the kitchen. The sight of Temari in a frilly apron was completely weird and it also made Tenten want to laugh out loud. And she would if the konoichi wearing it wouldn't string her up by her own intestines if she did. Shikamaru was coming over tonight with one of his former teammates-Ino. Tenten didn't know much about the blonde she admitted; just that she wasn't even close to the loudmouthed vain gossip that she was when they had first met. Ino had moved to Suna, taking a job at their understaffed hospital only a few weeks before Tenten had arrived for her mission. Temari was always up for making friends with others, but the frilly apron and trying to make a good impression on her spoke of deviousness not politeness.

"Are you trying to hook up your brother?" Tenten queried.

Temari stiffened. She had been caught. Temari rounded on her, potholders in hand. She pointed one threateningly at the dual bunned konoichi who was threatened not to help with dinner moments ago. Tenten wondered just how many times she could get the evil eye from her roommate while she was wearing that ridiculous apron and sporting kitchen wear before Tenten broke down into fits of laughter (or got bludgeoned to death). The sight was also a little disturbing. Not wanting to provoke the blonde further, she raised her hands up to say she wasn't meddling. After all, Tenten had nothing against Ino, she was more than happy to make new friend.

"I thought Kankuro didn't like blondes?" Tenten looked at her roommate with a confused demeanor.

"_He_ doesn't," came her reply.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten opened the front door, letting in a refreshing swoosh of cold air as she did. She looked relieved that it was Kankuro. "What took you so long, you live down the street." Tenten looked at the puppet master with a stern yet concerning glare, then pulled the wall of meat that was Kankuro through the door and slammed it behind him. "Where's Gaara?"

"He's coming," Kankuro frowned, not hiding the fact that he was upset that she left when she did.

Kankuro started to get dressed after his shower when his brother got home. Tenten left at that point. He knew she had to get home and take a shower herself so she left Gaara to continue to babysit him.

Kankuro was thoroughly unaware that Tenten was currently the one scheduled to watch him that night, waking him up every three hours, under the Kazekage's request. Gaara asked her if she would be willing to come over that night and check in on him when they were at the hospital, whether or not to help alleviate Tenten's ultimate guilt issue over this being done on her watch or simply because Gaara felt that she was the best person for the job, Tenten didn't know. She considered it part of her mission with Kankuro and was grateful that Gaara had not blamed her for the accident. Gaara was satisfied that his brother wouldn't have to stay in the hospital that night. Apparently hating hospitals ran in the family.

They shuffled inside and Tenten pulled out a beer from the fridge and handed it to him. They both walked over to the dining room to watch the bustling Temari drain noodles at the sink as if it were entertaining to watch the woman get flustered over something so simple. She looked domestic and feminine, completely the opposite of what the usually intimidating ninja personified. They took a pull off of their beers after respectively clinking them together, taking it all in.

"Creepy."

"I agree."

Temari momentarily stopped to fume at the two. They looked at each other, sharing the same scared expression: no body wanted to be on the receiving end of Temari's wrath.

Apparently that had provoked the beast. Shit.

"What are you wearing your face-paint for? Go wash your face!" she roared above the steam of the noodles. Tenten didn't have time to give him a your-sister-just-told-off look as she continued. "And you," she turned on Tenten, "go pull your hair out, this isn't a battlefield!"

Kankuro and Tenten exchanged looks once again. Was she serious? "What are you two waiting for? Bathroom! Go! Now!" She motioned with her head to vamoose.

They grumbled down the hall and they both reached the half bathroom shuffling inside the small space. Tenten handed Kankuro a towel and he handed her the brush on the edge of the sink. The only sounds coming from the bathroom were from the sink running and Tenten pulling out the knots in her hair with firm stokes. Kankuro turned off the sink faucets and patted his now freshly washed face dry. He stared at Tenten's reflection: she stood behind him leaning her head to the side to work out the snarls. They stared at each other a moment. She had never seen him without his official puppeteer face-paint and he had never seen her with her hair down.

He knew, because he would have remembered. He got lost following her long mahogany locks as it flowed in waves down the front of her body. He understood why Neji had been so territorial of her. He was beginning to feel the same way, he realized.

She squinted her eyes, "Nice mug."

"Nice hair," he shot back replacing the fuzzy hand towel on the rack and straightening up to full size.

He turned around to face her, and in the small bathroom he nearly bumped into her as he did.

Instead of an "excuse me," like he had meant to voice he issued a simple low grunt like a troll as he peered down at the doe-eyed girl in front of him. He placed his hands around her shoulders and picked her up out of the way.

She nearly rolled her eyes as he did so; he noticed how light she was. She really was something. He decided then and there that something had to be done about Neji.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"So what the hell was that all about?" Kankuro pushed the door open with a broad shoulder and smiled wickedly at his brother. His brother was careful not to answer until they were safely inside the condo.

"Damn that felt good," Gaara closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders, still reveling in the shoulder rub he had received from Ino that night. He hadn't known that mentioning a headache to the medical konoichi would don such attention. Perhaps she was just following up on the physical that got cut short earlier. He didn't care; right now his shoulder wasn't burning from the weight of his gourd.

"Why does our sister insist that she can cook? I've seen people running from demolition sights with better results," Gaara smiled at his brother's comment. Dinner hadn't been that bad. She actually hadn't burned anything, which, in Temari's world, was a vast improvement. Normally when the fire alarm went off, the food was ready. Although she had erred on the side of not enough spice to too little, there were only so many times you could sneak the salt and pepper shaker before she gave you that evil eye of hers.

"So what is going on with Tenten?" Kankuro wasn't good at broaching a subject casually.

"I thought you hated her," Gaara poured himself a glass of water. Man that had been a lot of salt.

"Her I like, it's that asshole that cold-cocked me outta the blue today that I want to kill," Kankuro said with a hint of aggression in his voice. Oh the damage he wanted to do.

"I already took care of him," Gaara emptied his glass and poured himself another.

"Tell me he is in a body bag right now," Kankuro pleaded to his brother, "or at least in pieces."

Gaara smiled, "No, but he isn't here to interfere anymore."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four : Captain Drooled on my Pants

"What are you doing here?" Kankuro stared blankly at the konoichi who had thrown her hair back up into familiar buns.

She smiled at his surprise and brushed past him, not bothering to explain her presence.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow up at her. She wasn't wearing her usual green vest, just some comfortable clothes. Comfortable clothes that definitely looked like pajamas.

"You don't snore, do you, Concussion Boy?" she asked as she helped herself to a glass of water.

"What?" Kankuro stared at her thoroughly confused at her question. What the hell was she doing here?

"They test us before we make Genin and every year thereafter, does Suna not do those kinds of sleep tests? No one who snores is allowed to be a ninja." She replaced the glass on the counter and looked neutrally at him.

"Same here in Suna," he answered still uncertain, "Why? you plan on sleeping with me?" he perked up making several steps closer to her. Tenten put one index finger on her nose and one index finger in the air pointed at him.

"Do you have a sleeping bag? I didn't bring one."

Kankuro's shoulders dropped. That wasn't what I had in mind.

"My bed is big enough for both of us don't worry," he gave a wicked smile and tried to close the gap between them. She shifted around him and simply stated:

"I'll ask Gaara."

"He is already asleep."

The konoichi was undeterred however, and Kankuro watched as she opened the hall closet and jumped to reach the sleeping bag that was located on the top shelf. He walked over to the hopping konoichi and simply extended an arm to grab it off the top shelf. He made sure to brush his body to hers as he stood behind her and offered her the prize sleeping bag.

"Thanks," she stated plainly, obviously trying hard not to be effected by his presence. He smiled; this was going to be too much fun.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"This is disturbing." Tenten stated matter-of-factly and rounded on Kankuro, who stood leaning in the doorway of his room smiling with triumph. In every corner of his room there were puppet parts in various stages of repair lining his room to the gills. There was no room to put the sleeping bag, except of course on the large oversized bed which just happened to be the only place there was space. His room was not dirty, just cluttered with his stuff as he had no actual workshop to repair his marionettes. The sight before him, he did have to admit, looked more like a graveyard of parts lifelessly packed together end to end. It really was kind of creepy.

"Ok," Tenten threw her sleeping bag on the bed and lifted the torso of one of the puppets off of the ground. "Help me move these guys to the living room so I can have some space to sleep."

Kankuro shook his head. "Not a chance, if Gaara wakes up and trips over those in the middle of the night, he is going to have a shit-fit. No way, they stay here."

"Well if Gaara is going to wake up in the middle of the night, why doesn't he just check on you?" Her question was honest and sincere, not accusing.

"On the off chance that he will get sleep, he needs to get it and not worry about waking me up." Kankuro explained hoping he wouldn't have to provide her with nasty details about Gaara being a former demon vessel.

"Oh. Right." She said catching on. She gazed at his four-poster captain's bed and almost drooled. It was an enormous bed, probably the biggest one she had ever seen. The bed was neatly made, which she admitted, surprised her. She had never seen one quite like it before. It was crafted out of what looked like walnut and seemed quite expensive as it had intricate carvings and was obviously hand made.

She acceded throwing out the sleeping bag on top of the bed. "Try anything and I will drool on you." She warned with a pointed finger to the ninja who tried to look innocent as he threw both hands in the air at her remark.

She leapt on the bed and starting jumping up and down on it like a three-year-old. "Can I borrow some socks? I forgot mine."

Kankuro smiled at her need to give into the sudden childish antic. He couldn't help but chuckle.

He grabbed some socks out of his drawers and threw them at her. She fell to the bed, slipped them on and scrambled under the covers before stating a quick 'good night.'

Kankuro took off his shirt and pants and burrowed himself under his covers. "That is Gaara's sleeping bag, if you drool in it, you will have to answer to him."

"That explains the sand."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten got out of her sleeping bag and crawled over to the edge of the bed. Yawning from only getting a few hours of rest she rolled the shoulder she had been sleeping on. A shiver bolted threw her spine: she didn't realize how cold she was. She swiped at some sand covering her and moved on to waking up Kankuro. She walked over to the sleeping wall of meat and shook his shoulders trying to rouse him. Nothing. She rolled him over onto his back. Years of having to wake up Lee for the same thing, she knew exactly how to get his attention. She promptly grabbed his nose and pinched it shut.

She waited a few moments then realized that he had just completely stopped breathing.

Oh shit.

She let go and scrambled on top of him, she leaned in close only to feel a faint hot breath of air against her cheek. He was breathing, but barely. Okay odd, maybe he was just messing with her.

"Kankuro, I swear to Kame if you are screwing with me, I will kill you! Wake up!" she threatened, shaking his shoulders.

She wasn't prepared for what happened next. He took in a deep breath and opened his eyes wide. It gave her just enough time to realize two things: that he did not remember she was there, and that he thought she was attacking him. His next movements were a blur: she was on her back with him on top of her with one massive hand over her mouth and one over her throat pressing down. Her eyes popped open with fear: she was totally at his mercy.

He released the hand from around her throat only to click on the bedside lamp.

"Tenten?"

She drew up from her position on the bed gasping for air once he withdrew his other hand.

"Why are you sleeping on my bed?"

"Because apparently I have a death wish," she sputtered grabbing at her now sore neck.

"Why are you sleeping on my bed?" he repeated as she climbed into his lap to check his eyes. He let her, not knowing what was going on.

"You got a concussion yesterday, I am here to make sure you wake up every few hours and don't slip into a comma." She shined her flashlight in each eye and made him follow her fingers as she directed them back and forth. "You remember now?" He slowly nodded at the very serious girl straddling him right now. Normally, any girl he knew would be blushing at the realization of how very suggestive this all was: he half naked on his bed with her sitting so casually in his lap. She leaned back. "Good," she smiled climbing off of him. "I will wake you up in about two hours, try to get some sleep and try not to kill me when I wake you up." She kept her tone friendly yet serious and threw a serious wave of a finger before busing herself with ridding the sleeping bag of more sand.

Was there a whole damn dune in here? She made a note never to borrow any of the Kazekage's things.

"Why are you sleeping _on_ my bed?" he asked a third time.

"Sorry, there is no room on the floor." She offered that as a reply as she shook her sleeping bag out to rid it of excess sand. "No way am I sleeping on the couch and having Gaara wake me up if he can't sleep."

"No," Kankuro shook his head. "Why aren't you under the covers with me? If you slept next to me and tried to wake me up I wouldn't try to kill you."

"Wait, what?" Tenten suddenly asked incredulously. "You're kidding right?"

Kankuro shrugged his shoulders then clicked the small table side lamp off.

After he settled himself down, he could hear her mutter curses and throw the sleeping bag to the ground and move underneath the sheets and heavy blanket. He was surprised that she hadn't asked for another blanket for herself…his room was quite chilly.

He waited until she got herself comfy before he reached out with two strong arms and hauled her with an 'eep' to his chest. She was frigged against him and he reached for her to take her hair out.

"I got it."

She settled down into his arm, her hair now taken out of its buns. She placed her extra hair ties around her wrists next to the other two currently there to help wake her up when the circulation cut off the blood supply.

He pulled her again against his massive frame and he noted that it took her some time before completely relaxing. He wrapped his arm around her ribcage possessively pulling her closer to him yet and let out a caveman like grunt of approval at how nicely she fit nestled at his side. He liked it.

She squirmed slightly beneath him trying to regain a sense of comfort.

"I wouldn't wiggle so much if I were you."

"Oh, please," she grumbled, propping herself up on her elbows, flinging her hair out of her face and plopping herself back down.

He tightened his grip on her for a moment and whispered warningly into her ear, "I mean it. Stop."

He relaxed and let himself take in the clean smell of her hair. She turned over to face him, putting more space in between them.

"I'm sorry." She blurted out, her cold hands pressed against his chest.

"Not your fault," he snuggled closer to her knowing she was talking about the concussion he received from her former teammate.

She rested her head on his bicep and breathed a sigh into his chest tickling his chest hairs. Lost in their own thoughts, they drifted off.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Kankuro suddenly came to, with a guttural yell as he shifted forward sitting up. He was sweating and breathing rapidly as he pulled himself from the clutches of a dream. It had been too real. He thrashed on his bed, re-evaluating the scene as it unfolded before him.

"Whoa! Take it easy!" Tenten jumped up from his bed, diplomatically raising her arms showing him she meant no harm.

Kankuro was trying hard to catch his breath. He was practically swimming in a pool of his own sweat, his sheets drenched. He threw the covers back to evaluate the scene, almost to check to see that they were indeed alone. The sleeping bag was on the floor, he didn't even know what exactly was going on. What had he done?

"Kankuro?" Tenten asked. Kankuro directed himself to the konoichi whose hair was flowing down at her sides in a silent testament to where she had been momentarily.

"You okay?" She was peering at him cautiously like he had just claimed to see a ghost or the Easter Bunny.

She looked worried for him: like she knew.

"I have nightmares too," she offered quietly, climbing beside him on the bed. Very tenderly she hugged his shoulders and drew his sweaty forehead into her chest. He was completely comforted as he allowed himself to be consoled by the konoichi he thought he was doing other horrific things to only a moment ago. Kankuro had never had anyone offer him such solace.

She continued to sooth him, cooing that they weren't real, they were only nightmares that couldn't harm him-he was safe now.

She whispered that she was here and everything would be okay.

He gripped her arm tightly as if trying to ground himself to this reality, his breath still heaving like liquid lead in his chest. "I didn't hurt you?" came from his mouth in a ghost of a whisper.

"Shhh, course not," she calmly confirmed back.

"Don't go." He fought himself to tell her not to leave him again.

"Shhhhh," she whispered into his hair once more, "I won't leave until you tell me to."

"Promise?" he labouredly breathed against her, against the head of the bed, against his lungs that couldn't seem to draw in enough oxygen in this reality.

Tenten squeezed his shoulders tighter to reassure him. "Promise."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

The morning sun came with a kinked neck and cursing. Kankuro had his head on Tenten's lap and Tenten had hers jarred against the headboard in an awkward position.

Some how, Tenten was able to detach herself from the drooling ninja with out so much as a twitchy nuzzle as she replaced herself from his grasp with a pillow. She covered him up with the blanket and sneaked her way towards the kitchen.

Gaara was pouring himself some tea when she came out and inspected the small dark drool spot on her hip.

She tried her best to brush it off, hoping that somehow that the liquid that had absorbed into her pants could be erased with a simple swipe of her hands.

"Your stupid brother drooled on me," she said by way of explanation taking the cup of tea that Gaara offered her wordlessly. "I hope this doesn't mean I will catch an STD," she smiled up at the Kazekage who was trying to fight his own face from suddenly splitting into an evil grin, "or rabies." She winked up at him as she caught him trying to hide it in a forceful sip of his tea. Tenten was impressed the way he hid his smile with the cup, but the look of glee in his eyes was unmistakable.

"I trust my brother slept well," Gaara's monotone voice was back in full force, but the smile still tugged at the corners of his mouth.

She sighed, unable to explain. For the last part, yes: for the first part, no.

She answered him with a simple shrug of her shoulders.

"Nightmares." It wasn't a question. The Kazekage, Kankuro's brother, was giving her the reason for his interrupted sleep. She nodded.

"Kankuro is due for boarder patrol this evening; can you take his shift until Ino has a chance to give him medical clearance?"

"What time?"

"From five to nine," Gaara said and offered her some Chanko Nabe, a favorite of Kankuro's, sent up from wherever the hell the Kazekage got all of his food ordered: all she knew was it certainly wasn't cooked by Temari.

"I'ma take a pass on this," Tenten closed one eye in calculation, "and pick up something from a vendor down the street instead of eating leftovers from last night."

Gaara nodded. At least spending the night with his brother hadn't altered the woman's sanity.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five : Turn about is fair play

Boarder patrol was like an excuse to get paid to walk around and chat with whomever you were scheduled boarder duty with. On the off chance that there was an invasion, you were screwed if the enemy had two brain cells to rub together and could formulate a plan to take out two people at the same time. The system was designed so that if you and your partner didn't report to their stations with in the hour, an investigation or alarm would be triggered. All in all, it was nice to get out and walk along the boarders of Suna, taking it all in, even if you knew doing so would ultimately lead to your demise if someone out there really hated your guts. But, hey, it was only for four hours, what did Tenten really have to lose?

Baki signed his name on the clip board, and then handed it over to Tenten. Baki smiled to himself- she was much easier on the eyes than Kankuro. He had wanted to talk to her one on one since her arrival, but hadn't made the time for it: this was perfect.

He explained to her how the system worked with boarder duty. If you and your partner cannot feel the chakra of the two in front of you then you needed to pick up the pace. There should only be a time of two minutes of running before finding it, and if by chance you can't then you are either a worthless shinobi who can't find a simple chakra signature, hopelessly lost, or about to be attacked. There was only a certain amount of room for error. Tenten nodded to her taijutsu student's former master.

Easy enough.

Their conversation was pretty typical. They discussed Kankuro and his puppets and his former training. They discussed Kankuro's current training, which led to how Tenten knew so much about taijutsu and how she became to be so good at it. They discussed her team for a bit: which led to the discussion of Neji and how he was the one who knocked Kankuro out the first day he was assigned to be their sparring partner. To this, Tenten couldn't apologize enough. This led to her watching him last night and the reason she had a kink in her neck the following morning.

"Oddly enough, that boy usually has them following a concussion," Baki explained about the two other incidents briefly: one of them involved Gaara nearly killing him while still possessed as the demon vessel, the other while on a mission and Kankuro taking a hit for a team member. Tenten explained she was well seasoned in concussions because of once again, Rock Lee. (The way that guy went on spewing all that crap about springtime youth it was a wonder no one pegged him for serious case of head trauma sooner.)

"So you checked on him while he was sleeping?" Baki spoke slowly, not quite getting how she survived the night. "And you only came out with stiff neck from all of that?"

"And drool on my pants," Tenten gave the man an askance look and winked as if it were no big deal.

"and he didn't try to kill you?" Baki questioned her further.

"Oh, no, he did," she turned serious on him, "but after his nightmare he slept in my lap rather soundly the rest of the night." She informed him matter-of-factly.

Baki noticed that she did not blush once during her discussion about Kankuro. She was either very good at hiding any kind of embarrassment, or she did not like him in the least. The later seemed odd, if she was willing to comfort him and look after him the way that she had.

Baki knew Kankuro's room was a testing ground for all women to see if they were willing to sleep in bed with him. Most of the time the marionettes creeped them out and they never stayed the night. The fact that she was there not having sex with the man and still willing to stay spoke volumes to him, not to mention the fact that she let the troll drool on her willingly. He had to see if he could make her blush, from everything that Gaara had spoken of Tenten, the girl was a perfect match for the Kazekage's brother, and Baki was there to secure the two. He just had to see where her feelings were residing.

"So if you miss your boyfriend, why didn't you stay in Konoha instead of him coming to help you here?" Baki asked as innocently as a man who had recently encountered blood and death could muster.

"Neji is not my boyfriend, please spread the word, and remind me for Konoha's sake, not to trade intel with you guys again," she spoke almost in a detached manner, as if she had rehearsed the line, but serious enough that Baki was sure there was nothing between the two former teammates.

Check, now to see if he could make her blush: this should be easy. They were only a few moments away from their check point so he wasted no time. He needed the information before she got passed the city gates.

"So Kankuro has told me you have taken to calling him _Cowboy_," Baki began. Tenten smirked at this with a look of satisfaction.

That wasn't really what Baki was expecting.

"Right before I body slam him into the ground," she gave the man further detail with a most lamented look. Baki noted not a tinge of pink graced her face. He would have to try a different strategy.

"And that you want to use his body to do laundry on," Baki smirked, was sure he had her now. But instead of blushing she turned to him and gave him a friendly smile.

"I suppose I have you to thank for those gorgeous chiseled abs of his," she patted him on the back with a wink, "nice job."

Baki was stunned into sputtering out, "you are actually admitting you like his abs!"

"And his ass."

"What?"

"Don't worry, I think yours is nice, too," Tenten held his shoulder, then took a daring glance behind him to check out said posterior. With a wink, she was off through the city gates, leaving the man standing still, the side of his exposed face beet red.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"Baki tried to get a rise outta me," Tenten yawned with a beer outstretched in her hand. Temari leaned in to her position on the couch next to her, sporting her own. Temari looked over at her roommate who gave her a twisted grin, "I got him back- Anko would have approved." They clinked bottles and giggled with evil pleasure. Man it paid to be an evil bitch sometimes. Kame bless Anko for showing her how to never blush at anyone or anything ever again. She could almost remember approaching her as a genin after running into Neji's cousin, and vowing never ever to be like that. Anko was of course the only person she could think of that never showed signs of embarrassment: so naturally Tenten insisted. Meeting with her had been one of the most frightening yet best experiences of her life. Not to mention the influence of Temari, also an outspoken konoichi. Tenten proved to be a force reckoned with if you tried to go rounds with her. This also made her all the more suited to train Kankuro; she could dish it out with the big dogs.

"Curse Kankuro and his obnoxiously big mouth," she muttered before taking another large swig of her beer.

"When those three get together it's worse than a damn sewing circle." Temari shuttered. Sometimes she missed her brother being a homicidal demon. Now he actually had feelings and talked to Baki and Kankuro about these feelings and other such nonsense. Worse is -they shared back. The thought of that made her sick. She tried to focus on all of the blood and violence from her last battle to tide over the wave of nauseousness that suddenly came over her.

"We better get going for dinner; we need to pick up Ino on our way out." Temari glance at the clock on the wall.

"Ino, eh?" Tenten asked amusement. "Why isn't she here now, she needs to hang out with us more often."

"I know, her hospital schedule is a bit screwed up right now, we are lucky we got to snag her for dinner." Temari responded downing her drink and heading towards the door. Shikamaru should already be there, hopefully not dying at the mercy of her two brothers.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

It was horrible, the way the idiots were going on, _as if they were war buddies. _Temari had almost seen enough and walked out of Gaara and Kankuro's apartment on sight of their immature behavior in complete disgust. It was terrible, the way they all seemed to get along with each other: it was annoying to say the least. Gone were the days where they were threatening Shikamaru, and he would visibly sweat from sheer terror. No, now, _now_, he was in the middle of all the mischief, trying to throw food across the room into one of Kankuro's puppets. The three konoichi walked in right as someone made a shot of edamame into the mouth with a direct hit, and the three cheered and then chugged respectively on their beers. Apparently, they were also playing a drinking game.

"Holy shit, what did you do Kankuro?"

The place was packed with food dishes on every counter. Oden, Chanko Nabe, Tonkatsu, Yakisoba, and onigiri lined the counters of the apartment. Temari had forgotten that if Kankuro had a concussion he did only three things- fix his marionettes and cook and clean.

Kankuro shrugged his shoulders at Temari's comment, as the two others looked on with mild curiosity at now apparently Shikamaru's turn to lob the edamame into the puppets opening. He missed and had to take two long chugs of his beer as the boys made a guttural booing sound at his misfortune.

"We'll eat in a second, Gaara is up next," Shikamaru handed the redhead the spoon for which to lob the small pea shaped vegetable. Gaara flipped his spoon and with a triumphant call from all, and made the shot directly into the puppets mouth. The boys continued to cheer; merry from what the girls hoped was only half an hour of this kind of drinking.

"Nicely done, Kazekage-sama," came Ino's shy response as the group of cheers were winding down. Gaara smiled back at her with warmth.

Temari witnessed such events and nearly choked on her own vomit.

"We need to not be sober," Temari whispered as she leaned into her roommate who had also tried to block out the sudden interplay between the two. Not that they weren't completely and utterly happy for the two: they just preferred to be inebriated if they had to put up with it and couldn't make the snide comments for fear of scaring the two away from each other.

"Well spotted," came Tenten's immediate response.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

The night ended with Gaara insisting suddenly that he escort Ino home. Most of everyone wasn't paying attention to them until the door closed and they were gone, and realized their own need to make it home as well. Shikamaru made some lame-assed excuse for Temari to come over to his hotel while he was in town to pick up "some stuff." Tenten tried not to roll her eyes as she stumbled herself into an upright position. She hadn't been drinking too much, and now suddenly wished she had been playing that drinking game earlier with the boys. How had she only managed to drink one beer the entire evening? Tenten yawned then put a finger on Kankuro's nose.

"You have training tomorrow." She supplied with a calm sober visage. The two were alone.

Kankuro tried to pull her and her finger down to him to sit on his lap with no such luck: she was too fast.

"I know," Kankuro smiled up at her.

"I won't go easy on you."

"I would hope not."

"Alright then, good night,"

Kankuro had a moment of hesitation. He wanted her to stay. He wanted for there to be more than just a teacher-student relationship. She wasn't making it easy on it him either by leaving so soon.

"You forgot something," Kankuro couldn't think of anything else to say. He mentally winced from such a statement and came up with a plan on the fly.

Tenten whirred around and frowned at the puppet master, "I did?" she jutted her jaw out, "what did I forget?"

"It's in my bedroom." He said and disappeared down the hall.

"Kankuro!" Tenten yelled from across the apartment then realized she really didn't want to scream and settled for a mumbled, "ah, what am I yelling for, you're deaf anyways," and sauntered down the hall growing more and more sober with each step.

Kankuro was on his bed, the only place where there was room to be, holding up one of her hair ties.

"That couldn't have waited until morning?" Tenten leaned against the door with her eyes half open and eyebrows arched up. Kankuro then revealed with a simple drop of a few fingers the shiny clinking of metal objects.

Tenten patted herself down. "You took my keys?" she asked almost incredulously. Kankuro nodded wordlessly. "Okay, give them back." She offered with a hand palm up to encourage the man to throw them to her. Kankuro shook his head at her.

With a charge and some cursing about taking them back herself, Tenten launched herself on the bed and was surprised at how playful Kankuro had been. She found herself not really fighting him seriously, and honestly just enjoying the close encounter with the man on his bed, taking in his deep laughter along with hers, brushing against his body occasionally. She liked him and she was actually giving into his childish antics to flirt shamelessly with the man. They twisted and turned each other over on the bed, teasing each other with an occasional warm breath against a neck or ear.

Kankuro had been pent up in his apartment all day except for when he went out to buy the groceries in the afternoon. He was enjoying their little tryst on more than one level. He needed a release of energy that Tenten was obliging him on, not to mention his very desperate need to be with her longer, touch her, smell her, hold her. He didn't want her to go, and for once, Kankuro sensed that she knew that, and also felt the same way.

Their playful wrestling slowly dyed down until Tenten had forgotten all about her keys as the puppet master, now done wrestling for the moment, took hold of her hand and gently began to caress it with his as he lay beside her on the bed. He gently took out her hair and ran his fingers through it. He made no play to try anything physically further, which he wanted to do, but for right now, he had to let her know that he wanted her more than in just a physical sense. He wasn't looking for a one night stand. He wanted her, all of her, and this was his way of showing her that she was more than just a notch on his bedpost.

"Kankuro," she said squeezing his hand firmly all of a sudden, "you realize this is not going to work right?" Tenten tilted her head to meet his gaze. Kankuro had been playing with her hair for a while now, and he was completely mesmerized by it.

"Hmm?" Kankuro stopped threading his hand through her strands and snapped back harshly into reality. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Us, this is a bad idea." She sat up to face him taking both of his hands in hers. "I don't think this is going to work. I am leaf, you are sand…"

"Temari and Shikamaru do it." Kankuro interrupted her.

"Come on Kankuro, they see each other twice a month if they are lucky for a couple a days at a time. Do you really want that? Can't you see how much stress this puts on your sister? I don't want that, and I know you don't either. It's not fair to either of us." To this, she climbed in his lap and held him around his neck, almost as if she were grieving for their relationship, instead of cutting it off before it had a chance to start. He held her there in his arms unable to come up with a simple solution to their problem. He had seen the look in Tamari's eyes, but refused to acknowledge her pain. He couldn't outright knowingly place Tenten in the same position. All the same he couldn't let her go just yet.

"Don't go," he pleaded desperately into her hair taking in her scent, the clean wash of her hair, the moment. It was more than he should ask, but he could tell she didn't want to leave and he couldn't let her go. She sighed and he knew that if she stayed the night, he wouldn't want her to go in the morning or the day after.

"It's better that I leave now, Kankuro, this isn't going to get easier. Our last day of training is tomorrow and then I leave for Konoha. I am sure I will see you in a few months at the very least."

"That's not enough; I want you here with me." He increased his grip on her holding her tight.

"Sorry, Kankuro," she started to bring herself out of his lap. "I will see you tomorrow, we can say our good-bye's after practice. Good night." And with that the weapon's mistress of Konoha slipped from his room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: I'd club that*

Kankuro walked to the training grounds as if walking to his doom. The whole morning was spent in melancholy silence as the puppet wheeler thought about how everything was going to play out. He sported his normal attire and brought a puppet almost out of habit with him. He figured he could blow off some steam after their last session. To his surprise, Tenten was already there, talking to Baki and Gaara. He placed his puppet on the sideline and waited politely for them to finish. Tenten had her arms folded across her chest and looked very neutral in contemplation. She nodded taking a scroll from Baki. Gaara had that smirk on his face as he and Baki left the grounds. Kankuro gave him a questioning look but Gaara only left in silence.

Kankuro walked up to Tenten who was reviewing the scroll. She closed it and pointed it at him with a serious face. "What do you know about this?"

"What do I know about what?" Kankuro unintentionally snapped. "Give it here and let me read it."

Tenten with drew the scroll from his reach. "You are going to have to fight me for it first," she announced tucking the scroll into one of her vest's pockets.

Kankuro wasn't sure he liked that, but thought he might be able to keep up with her today. Taking a scroll was a different story altogether. Okay, this was going to be interesting.

"Don't hold back," she announce as he lunged and she twisted his arm behind his back,

"Baki is watching, probably Gaara, too," she whispered into his ear and released him. This time she attacked first, and he blocked each blow perfectly, even though he felt like he was still slower than she was.

"Good, good," she approved as he flipped her over and tried to scramble on top of her. "Not quick enough," she leapt forward avoiding the pin and came at him with a series of kicks one of which he caught her foot, and thinking he had her, tried to pull her towards him with a yank. He stumbled backwards realizing all he had of her was her shoe. He threw it to the ground much harder than he should have out of frustration making the shoe bounce before landing flat behind him. He readied himself for the next attack. She seemed to come out of nowhere, and he found himself blocking her fists with his arms and ducking to avoid some very strong kicks. He reached out and grabbed one of her legs again, only it was the other leg and he ended up pulling a shoe off once more. "Ok, Ten, this is getting to be redicu-ah!" Kankuro was forced to stop his conversation and pay some attention to his attacker. He needed to get in a good series of strikes instead of playing offence. He had more force by far than she did, so it might only take a few punches before he landed a hit. Not that he wanted to hit her, but he probably wasn't going to be able to see the contents of the scroll unless he actually took it from her. There was something in Gaara's smirk before he left that played in the back of his mind, and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

She parried the attack, but she was unprepared for the kick to her stomach, which Kankuro regretted as soon as it connected.

"Now were talking," Tenten recovered with a grin and followed up with more rounding kicks. Kankuro caught a foot, not a shoe, and quickly spun the direction of movement until she landed and he could pin her.

For a brief moment he thought he was going to eat turf. He thought he had heard her say cowboy. Perhaps that was just to throw him off. He was on top this time, neatly pinning her arms over her head. Now very aware how out of breath they both were, worlds away from where he started a month ago, where he was sucking air and she had only looked bored. He released one of her arms only to take his hand and slip his trophy out of her front vest pocket. It crossed his mind to kiss her mercilessly, even if Gaara and Baki were there, he wanted at least that before she left. He couldn't let her go without at least a kiss; even if he was sure he wouldn't be able to stop himself there if he did. He had to crawl off of her to unravel the paper, but made sure to keep one of her legs pinned so she could not wander off.

"I sense a lack of trust," she said and tried to pull her leg out. She looked rather unamused. Kankuro grunted in approval that she was indeed stuck.

He put his attention to reading the scroll. When he was done reading the scroll, he snapped back to the top and read it again. He was almost certain he was going to wake up dreaming at any moment.

"The words aren't going to change, Kankuro," Tenten called out to get his awareness back to her, "and if you don't get off my foot, I'ma get a different scroll out and beat you with the things inside of it."

Kankuro vaguely recalled a scroll of miscellaneous sharp pointed objects in mass quantities coming from that scroll. He rolled off her foot.

"Tell me you are going to take this job offer," Kankuro nearly pleaded as he entered her personal space in an almost intimidating way. "This wouldn't be long distance, you and I."

"I know, Kankuro, but I still need to think about this."

"What is there to think about?" Kankuro nearly screamed. "I thought this was the one thing standing in our way, and you have to think about it?" Kankuro was not just raising his voice anymore, he was nearly growling as he clenched his fists with rage. "You're not scared this won't work Tenten, you are scared that it will."

He was shaking now.

"Excuse me?" She rounded on him, "Did you stop for a moment to think what would happen if we didn't work out? Huh? I won't just lose you Kankuro- I lose Temari, I lose Gaara: _I lose Suna_,"

He blinked dumbly at her in his anger, unable to come up with an intelligible response. "And this contract is only for six weeks," she continued, "then we are right back where we were before, right back to where your sister and Shikamaru are." She fiercely pointed with a finger as if they were in that direction. "And then what?" her face had gone red with her emotion and she looked about to cry, "You can't tell me this will still end well!"

"It can't end if it doesn't begin!" Kankuro stated to Tenten's now turned back. She was gripping the scroll in her hands so tight it was tearing from the tension in her small hands.

"Then maybe it's better this way."

Kankuro only blinked, but it was enough time for her to leave him standing there all alone, wondering if that was the last thing he would ever hear her say.

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten stood before the Kazekage, who no longer had a smirk on his face. As he stared at the stoic konoichi, he realized she had been crying only a few minutes before entering his office. This was not what he had in mind.

"You are declining our job offer?" Gaara questioned her as he glanced over the scroll, eyeing the notarized time and date of the declination, as well as the small torn edges and stress marks laid throughout the document.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama." Tenten remained still as she replied.

He also noted her backpack stuffed with her belongings slung across her back. She was ready to bolt. He couldn't let her.

"I still need a full report on my brother's training," he said nonchalantly leaning into his chair.

Tenten pulled out a scroll from within her vest and placed it on the Kazekage's desk. It was thick and detailed. She was quite thorough at covering her bases.

"I am still going to need you to go over this with me," Gaara explained as he unraveled the scroll.

"Kazekage-sama, I have gone through the report in detail with Baki, if I may be so bold to say," she relayed quite formally, still not looking him in the eye. Normally people didn't, but this was unusual for her.

"I see." Was all he could muster as he was profoundly impressed by the detail she went through in her report. She not only went through what they did in their sparring sessions, she gave projections for when he would improve and how he would improve then outlined a training regiment for him according to his strengths and weaknesses. Gaara was astonished at the immaculately detailed report in his hands.

He momentarily lost sight of his main objectives as he engrossed himself in the document.

"If that is all…" Tenten bowed and started to leave the room.

"Wait, Tenten," Gaara spoke as he slid himself away from his desk. Tenten froze in her tracks and turned around.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama,"

"Why are you in such a hurry to get home? Did you not enjoy your stay here in Suna?"

"No, Kazekage-sama, my stay here was above exceptional as always." She bowed graciously.

Gaara tried to cross the room to meet her by the double doors to get a better idea of what exactly was making the konoichi his brother had fallen so hard for leave, when said brother burst into the room ranting. He had missed how Tenten had slipped silently out the door as he charged towards his brother.

"Gaara I know you are in a meeting, but I need you to help me find her." Kankuro pleaded as his brother nearly rolled his eyes.

"She's headed towards the gates of Suna right now." Gaara explained.

"She is? Wait, how do you know that?" Kankuro questioned with a sense of awe.

"She was the one whose meeting you interrupted."

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten had reached all the way to forest before stopping to rest from a straight run. She slung her pack off her shoulders and opened her camping scroll to fish out some camping supplies and some much needed water. She had never run so hard or so fast in all her life. It felt good, like a purging- as if all the problems from Suna were melting out of her sweat as she ran. Guzzling down the rest of the water, she decided to run the rest of the way instead of stopping for the night; it had been a while since she had done a long run team Gai style. Taking out some more water for the run, she gathered her supplies and headed out of her would be campsite.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Kankuro was sweaty, sore, and cursing when he reached Konoha's main gate. Fumbling for papers, he swore loudly when he thought he had misplaced them. The vulgarity caught the attention of none other than Neji as he was walking by on his way towards his compound.

Kankuro grumbled as the Hyuga smirked at his condition: worn hard and miserable from his long journey only to be met with one of his least favorite people on his way into town.

Kankuro split into a grin, never breaking eye contact with the silver-eyed warrior, as he found the correct papers in his back pocket.

The guards waved him passed and Kankuro ran past the Byakugan user towards the apartment his sister and Tenten shared.

He banged on the front entrance with gusto and tried his very best not to Big Bad Wolf the door onto its hinges. He resorted to huffing and puffing Tenten's name. He could nearly make out her chakra signature when he felt one behind him.

"Gena," Kankuro swiftly turned to meet the man's gaze.

"Suna Trash," Neji narrowed his eyes.

Tenten unceremoniously pulled the door opened and evaluated the situation before her. Looking at the two she tried to close the door to them, pretending they weren't there. She had freshly showered, hair still wet and clinging to her back and sporting a fuzzy white robe. She was in the middle of brushing out her hair when the two ninja showed up on her doorstep. Tenten tried to close the door, which Kankuro blocked with a beefy limb, to which Neji shoved him.

That is how the fight started.

The fight ended soon after Tenten had grabbed her tonfa and beat the living shit out of the two ninja who just destroyed her new railing. She dragged them inside fuming at the audacity of the two shinobi now rubbing various body parts to ease their pain.

"You so much as breathe on each other and I swear to Kame I will not hesitate to use this scroll on you both."

Tenten referred to the large scroll in her hand that did not wheel the tonfa.

Kankuro knew that scroll: that was her "now you're fucked" scroll. He quietly nodded with the Hyuga who he was pretty sure was sporting a broken arm.

Tenten effortless twirled the tonfa in her hand and used it as a pointing stick when she wanted to stop her pacing and point to one of the boys bleeding on her carpet.

"You!" she rounded on Neji, "I don't even know where the hell to begin with you!"

Neji swiped at the blood tricking down his lip as she spoke.

"And you!" she pointed the stick at Kankuro who was positive he was hemorrhaging internally. "What the hell were you thinking running after me like that? Do you have any idea how conditioned you have to be in order to make that kind of run? Eat this," and she threw him a pill. He eye balled it and popped it in his mouth, crunching it as she continued. Kankuro noticed that his side no longer hurt a few moments after he swallowed it: in fact, he felt quite refreshed all over.

"I know that we were team mates, Neji, but that does not give you the excuse to butt in my personal life whenever you so feel the need. I suggest you start by leaving and seeking medical attention for your internal bleeding." Tenten offered him a hand up off the floor with the arm that wasn't broken, and promptly shoved him unceremoniously out the door.

"Good riddance." She breathed out and sighed against the door. Her attention refocused on the now more perky ninja, who looked torn between whistling happily and groveling for mercy.

"You. Couch. Now." She motioned for Kankuro to make his way into the living room.

Kankuro complied. He was startled when she took her place on top of him and planted kisses along his sweaty neck and face.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked with a worried look in her eyes between kisses.

"Well, yeah," Kankuro tried to focus his attention on his words and not the suddenly loose fluffy robe exposing some ample cleavage in his line of sight as the konoichi on top of him leaned forward to kiss his neck, "but whatever you gave me, I feel great," he tried again to focus his mind on what the hell was going on now: one minute she is attacking him with Billy club, the next she is on top of him, kissing him until his pants felt uncomfortably tight. Why were women so fucking crazy?

He found her mouth and captured it with his. He deepened the kiss almost half expecting her to hit him with a blunt object or to wake up from a dream.

He broke off the kiss and flipped her on the couch. Her wet hair splayed out across the cushion of the couch, her lips swollen from their dizzying kiss. "Come back with me to Suna," he unconsciously brushed as strand of hair away from her face, "take the job my brother offered you, we can figure everything else out later, just stay with me, don't let this go before we get a chance to start it."

There was a long pause as she contemplated the words, but she eventually nodded. Kankuro split into a white-toothed grin and gave in to his urge to kiss her hungrily.

A/N Ok so my brother and I were watching some discovery channel program about seals…beer in hand he clinks the top of his beer with mine and points to the TV with the neck bottle and says to the furry aquatic sea mammals: "I'd club that."

He was totally joking, but he has such a dry sense of humor that I doubt anyone would laugh at that except me. Needless to say if you have the sick sense of humor that I do, you probably laughed at that too.

And thank you for all who read and review, this one took a while to publish…so I hope you all enjoy it!


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